A search for Nancy Holden in the United States brings up eighty individuals by that name. This web site is by and about just one…ME.

Nancy Irene Cash, DOB September 9, 1934 born in Louisville, Kentucky to Timothy Jay Cash and Luna Elsie Cash. I graduated Shawnee High School in 1952, two years before the decision for racial integration of public schools. Until 1950 Shawnee had been segregated by gender as well as race—so I experienced classes exclusively White and female—a dying way of life in this border state where the Confederate flag was never popular.

Louisville did not integrate the schools till forced by the courts, and during the 50’s a major civil rights case developed. A young black family (Andrew Wade, his wife, Charlotte, and their two-year-old daughter, Rosemary) unable to buy a home in a white suburb, appealed to white allies Carl and Anne Braden for help. The Bradens bought a house and transferred title to the Wade family, setting off violent protests. Kentucky State Police arrested the Bradens, charging them with sedition, other anti-racism allies were also arrested and became co-defendants. These included Lewis Lubka, a union organizer from New York, who became my husband.

Married in 1958, I became Nancy Lubka. The Braden case moved through the courts for months but was finally thrown out, later becoming the subject of “The Wall Between,” by Anne Braden. Lew and I moved to Atlanta, where he entered graduate school at Georgia Tech. Concurrently, the civil rights movement erupted, and we became deeply involved. This marriage was never very healthy—politically together, we were opposites as parents, causing conflict for our four children.

Divorced in 1978, I published a novel Murrey in 1979 under the name Nancy Nichols (story of an inter-racial love affair in Louisville.) In 1981, I married Douglas Holden, an Air Force vet of the Vietnam era, becoming Nancy Holden.

I have devoted a page on this website to my ministerial career as Rev. Dr. Nancy Holden, Ordained in 1987 in the United Methodist Church, North Dakota Conference, as well as ND State Coordinator of the National Organization for Women (NOW). Retired 2002, admitted to Final Fellowship 2010 as a community minister in the Unitarian Universalist Association.

My online presence here expands my influence to the world, sharing a lifelong commitment to equality, social and economic justice, religious freedom and authenticity, recovery from the personal and social dysfunctions that afflict this nation, and expressions of creativity in music and poetry.

Please: read here, comment if you wish, and share with others. Let’s never stop growing. Let’s stay strong in our commitment to justice and freedom for all.